Eastern Illinois botanist gets a plant to call his own
Posted August 23, 2016 7:00 am
CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) - A longtime botanist at Eastern Illinois University now shares his name with a new plant species found in India.
The university on Monday said that some of Gordon Tucker's colleagues discovered the new member of the sedge family and decided to name it after him because he provided the expertise to confirm the discovery. The new sedge is called Fimbristylis tuckeri.
Sedges are flowering plants that resemble grasses. News of the new species was announced in the September issue of the Kew Bulletin .
Tucker said the discovery itself was not unusual. More than 1,000 new plant species were identified last year and there are about 5,500 known types of sedges.
But Tucker said he was flattered by the new name.
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